Civil rights

Uncle Sam holds a paper labeled “Protest against Russian Outrage.” He is standing with his back to a slightly open door revealing a skeleton labeled “Lynchings” and holding a handgun and rope in his closet. He looks at the skeleton, realizing he is caught in a double standard.

comments and context

Comments and Context

Whether lynchings of Southern blacks were actually on the rise in this period — and statistics indicate so — publicity about them was on the rise, in magazines and newspapers (traditional and sensationalist press), in novels and plays, and in solemn political cartoons. President Theodore Roosevelt made a particular goal of his administration to publicize and condemn lynchings, and encourage anti-lynching legislation.

President Roosevelt tells William D. Murphy that he never restores civil rights when a sentence has been commuted. In the case of the boy in question, Roosevelt believes he should live for a few years to prove that he can be a good citizen before his rights are restored.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-11-10

President Roosevelt was very interested in Harry Johnston’s letter, and hopes that he can visit the United States while Roosevelt is still president. Roosevelt has a slight disagreement with Johnston, saying that there is no objection to a reasonable amount of hunting, and believing that conservation can be best done through the efforts of sportsmen. More than hunting, however, Roosevelt wishes to hear from Johnston about the “many complex problems, which we mean when we speak of the Negro question.” Roosevelt would like to hear about Johnston’s observations of Liberia, and touches on conditions in Haiti and South Africa as well. He says that he knows of no one better to assess the treatment and condition of African Americans in the United States than Johnston. Roosevelt says that, “on the one hand I very firmly believe in granting to Negroes and to all other races the largest amount of self-government which they can exercise,” but he also thinks that some races are not yet ready for full self-government. He looks forward to reading Johnston’s book on the Congo.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-07-11

President Roosevelt reflects on the peace between Japan and Russia, especially discussing the Russian diplomat Sergei Witte and the future of Russia. He believes that Russia needs to take steps towards liberty and self-government. Roosevelt also tells George Otto Trevelyan about several books he has been reading and thanks him for his letter about the late Secretary of State John Hay. Roosevelt wishes that Trevelyan could come stay at the White House, and hopes that when his term as president is done, he can travel around the world as a private citizen, without having to attend official functions.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-09-12

President Roosevelt will see E. D. Morel, but will not be able to do anything about the Congo when it is six weeks before a national election. Roosevelt has been rereading Thomas Babington Macaulay’s histories and is struck by the importance of moderation in bringing about progress. Roosevelt discusses his position on race relations and labor issues as being moderate compared to extremists on either side.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-16

President Roosevelt replies with interest to Major Byrne, explaining, in confidence, his position on race relations in the South. Roosevelt cites the Indianola post office affair, when African American postmistress Minnie M. Geddings Cox was driven out of town by a white mob, as an example of the “policy of retrogression” in the South. Roosevelt says, “On the one hand I wish by my action to avoid stirring up any bitterness; on the other hand, I must not act in a cowardly manner and make the apostles of lawlessness and of brutal disregard of the rights of the black man feel encouraged in their indignity. As always in life, I have to face conditions, not as I would like to have them, but as they actually are, and every course I take is beset with difficulties.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-14

President Roosevelt will not promise Josephine Shaw Lowell more than he already has and believes the Democrats are “utterly insincere” in promising independence to the Filipinos. Roosevelt compares the Christian Filipinos to the Islamic Moros and worries that freedom for one group would disrupt peace. Roosevelt also discusses the absurdity of the Democrats calling themselves a reform party under Thomas Taggart, Chairman of the Democratic National Committee. He is also upset about Carl Schurz’s support of Alton B. Parker in the election because it is the party of John Sharp Williams, Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives, who presides over a district whose majority is comprised of people of color but which is governed by white men.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-08-01

Henry E. Huck recounts the circumstances he suffered while in a sanitarium in Guelph, Ontario, to Arthur B. Heurtley. Huck additionally provides a number of names of people who he believes can vindicate his claims.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-24

John St. Loe Strachey thanks President Roosevelt for his letter, with which he agrees. Strachey does not understand how people think civil liberties do not need protecting. He worries that autocrats like Napoleon will feed on people’s unwillingness to stand up for what is right. Strachey hopes that they will meet again in October when he visits.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-09-21

John Byrne was pleased to read President Roosevelt’s letters regarding the “negro question” in the southern states. Byrne believes with Roosevelt regarding African American citizenship, but given the current southern resistance to equal rights, thinks that the less said about the matter, the better, until after the presidential election.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904-09-10

Henry E. Huck attests to the wrongs he believe were done him in 1910. Huck believes he was treated poorly in the absence of Alfred T. Hobbs, one of his usual doctors, and when he attempted to get in contact with John W. Langmuir to argue his case, he was rudely detained in the sanitarium. Huck claims to have been lied to and denied the usual privileges he was promised.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-24

Theodore Roosevelt is pleased to accept the souvenir presented by the Silver Bow Labor and Trades Assembly. He believes in the importance of giving a “square deal to each and every man.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-05-27

Theodore Roosevelt fought beside “colored troops” in Santiago. If the soldiers are good enough to fight beside him, they deserve a “square deal in civil life.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-05-27

Print shows diminutive gladiators labeled “Jones,” “J.D. Sayers” with large sword labeled “State Anti-Trust Laws,” “Bryan” with large sword labeled “Demagogism,” “Hearst,” “Pingree,” “Hogg of Texas” with sword labeled “State Law,” Theodore Roosevelt with sword labeled “Roosevelt,” and “Alger,” and also Joseph Pulitzer. A crowd in the background carries banners that state “Down with Trusts” and “Down with Dept. Stores.” They are struggling against a large gladiator wearing armor labeled “Trusts, Power to Undersell Competitors, Vested Rights, Right to Buy and Sell, Natural Right of Association, Business Progress, Steady Work, [and] Payment of Good Wages.” The gladiator is carrying a shield labeled “Constitution of the U.S.” and a sword labeled “Low Prices.”

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-07-26

Theodore Roosevelt’s copy of his speech at the semi-centennial celebration of Nebraska’s statehood. Roosevelt recalls America’s two wars up to the present, the Revolutionary and the Civil Wars, and says that they were good for the country because they established liberties for its citizens. He warns that World War I is threatening those liberties due to pacifists and a lack of military preparation by the United States. He calls for loyalty to America from its immigrant population and for voluntary service in the military and aid organizations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1917-06-14

Typed draft of Theodore Roosevelt’s speech at the semi-centennial celebration of Nebraska’s statehood. Roosevelt recalls America’s two wars up to the present, the Revolutionary and the Civil Wars, and says that they were good for the country because they established liberties for its citizens. He warns that World War I is threatening those liberties due to pacifists and a lack of military preparation by the United States. He calls for loyalty to America from its immigrant population and for voluntary service in the military and aid organizations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1917-06-14

Typed draft with handwritten edits of Theodore Roosevelt’s speech at the semi-centennial celebration of Nebraska’s statehood. Roosevelt recalls America’s two wars up to the present, the Revolutionary and the Civil Wars, and says that they were good for the country because they established liberties for its citizens. He warns that World War I is threatening those liberties due to pacifists and a lack of military preparation by the United States. He calls for loyalty to America from its immigrant population and for voluntary service in the military and aid organizations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1917-06-14

Handwritten draft of Theodore Roosevelt’s speech given at the semi-centennial celebration of Nebraska’s statehood. Roosevelt recalls America’s two wars up to the present, the Revolutionary and the Civil Wars, and says that they were good for the country because they established liberties for its citizens. He warns that World War I is threatening those liberties due to pacifists and a lack of military preparation by the United States. He calls for loyalty to America from its immigrant population and for voluntary service in the military and aid organizations.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1917-06-14

Uncle Sam and a female figure identified as Liberty stroll through a park among trees labeled “Equal Rights, Free Press, Free Schools, Free Speech, Free Ballot, Constitution, [and] Religious Liberty.” Around the bases of the trees are many mushrooms labeled “Total Abstinence Fanatics, Monopoly, Socialist, Nihilist, Dynamiter, Communist, Anarchist, Demagogism, Bribery, [and] Corrupt,” and a vine labeled “Protection” is beginning to strangle a tree labeled “Unrestricted Commerce.” Puck, sitting on a tree branch, tells Uncle Sam that he needs to clear out the fungus before it destroys “Liberty’s” park. Some of the mushrooms have faces that might be identified. Caption: Uncle Sam – Hello, Puck, are you “up a tree”? – Puck – No, but you will be if you don’t clear this stuff out pretty soon!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1885-02-25

A large African man is leaning against a tree, asleep. Several European countries are staking claims to portions of Africa, planting flags labeled “England, Portugal, Belgium, Turkey, Italy, Germany, Spain, [and] France” all around the sleeping man. Caption: Cutting a continent out from under him.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1911-10-25